Found
by Kyre
Summary: Max searches for Logan when he disappears.
1. Chapter 1

**RATING:** PG-13  
**SETTING:** After Shorties in Love, but before Pollo Loco.  
**DISCLAIMERS:** Is this really necessary? Come on. You know I own nothing.  
**FEEDBACK:** That button at the bottom of the page is there for a reason. If you want, you can also email me.  


**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** This fic is dedicated to my fellow Max/Logan shippers. My fellow MW fans might get a kick out of it too. ;)

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Four days.

He hadn't paged her in four days.

Why hadn't he called?

It was just as well, Max reminded herself. Her Ninja had been out of commission for those four days, thanks to a refinery fire. The usual gas shortage was bad enough--why did things like this have to happen just when her gauge hit E? For the fiftieth time she kicked herself for letting it get so low. _That's what happens when you spend all your time eating dinner by candlelight instead of doing what you need to do. It's done you good to spend some time away from Logan's._

Still, the fact that he hadn't called bugged her. Eyes Only must have been having a slow week. That she didn't mind; she did mind his never calling just to talk. _I know he's not the most verbose person in the world, but come on, a girl's gotta have something. _Was she going to have to remind him again how rude it was to only call when he needed something? He'd been doing so much better about that, too.

Original Cindy walked into their apartment and caught Max muttering under her breath. "S'matter, boo?"

"Ahhh...nothing. Frustrated 'bout my baby." Max hoped the fact that she was on the floor polishing her Ninja when she said this would convince Original Cindy she was telling the truth. She wasn't in the mood for lectures today. Or teasing.

"Well, you're in luck, 'cause guess who got word there's a line on Fremont?"

"A gas line?" That was enough to make her ears perk up.

"No. A conga line." Original Cindy leaned on the Ninja and winked at Max. "Sugar, go get your gas. I know you been dying to see your boy."

"Will you stop?" It wasn't the fact that Original Cindy was right that bothered Max. It was that annoying smirk on her face. "I really don't want to hear it. I just need some fresh air."

She stood up and brushed the dust off her pants. It didn't matter how many times Original Cindy called Logan Max's boyfriend. It didn't matter how badly Max wanted it to be true. He wasn't. Plain and simple.

He _was_, however, addictive. She needed to see him. Now.

********************************

...or maybe later.

The gas line was huge.

_Great_, she thought to herself. _I got Logan on my mind and now I gotta wait around for ages while peeps fill up every can they have. Not like I have a choice though. Who knows when there'll be another batch available._

I could take a minute first and call him...

Two rings on a pay phone later, Bling picked up. "Hello?"

"Bling? Hey. Logan around?"

  
"Nope. He was gone when I got here. Must've been in a hurry today, 'cause the last few days he at least stuck around for a while before taking off. I don't even know where he's been going. Anyway, I'm on the way out the door myself."

"You're bailing in the middle of your shift? That's unusual." Logan had hired him for housework as well as for PT, and he took his job seriously. Sometimes Max wished she could afford to pay him to clean up _her_ messes. Maybe that way she'd get the Manticore neatness streak out of her blood.

"My sister's having an emergency C-section. Just got the call."

"Oh. Hope everything's all right."

"Thanks, Max. I'll let you know how it goes."

She felt better for about two minutes after hanging up the phone and getting in line, but it wasn't long before the doubts crept in. So Logan had been leaving every day...and not talking to her...and not telling anybody where he was. What if he was seeing someone else?

_Stop it, Max. He can see anyone he wants to._ But she didn't believe herself for a minute. She'd be heartbroken if he started seeing another woman, even though he wasn't technically seeing _her_ to begin with.

There had to be another explanation. He was off doing some Eyes Only stuff. Yeah. Although Max had to wonder what kind of mission was so important and so secretive that even _she_ wasn't in the loop on it.

_ Maybe after I'm done here I'll go take a peek...see if he's got any files lying around. I miss his fridge anyway._

*******************************

"Logan?"

Max called out his name upon breaking into his apartment, just in case he had returned while she was aging in line. There was no answer, though, and she proceeded to poke around.

The place was a mess. Max didn't pay it much mind. Like he'd said, Bling had been called to leave in a hurry. She grabbed an apple from the fridge and wandered around, stopping when she noticed the computer screen.

_Funny...he left some files open onscreen. He never does that. He's too paranoid about the informant net falling into the wrong hands._

One file looked like financial records of some sort. Probably a list of all the cash some idiot had been lifting. He'd never know what hit him when Eyes Only was done with him. Max smiled.

The other file was a blueprint. In seconds Max recognized it as a warehouse she had burgled a year or two back, located in a bad part of town. _The guy must be storing the cheese there. I'll get a call in a day or two and wind up reacquainting myself with the building. Good to know I can plan my week around these Pierpont files, whatever the guy's dealio is._

Max did a double take. Pierpont?

Pierpont Lemkin?

Max's blood ran cold as the pieces fell into place. The messy apartment. The wide-open files. Logan being gone when Bling arrived. Somebody had busted in and finally gotten to Eyes Only!

_Oh, God...please let him be all right..._

Panic left a sour taste in her mouth as she double-checked the blueprints and ran out the door. She could handle gas shortages, she had borne Lucy's father's abuse, and she had survived her years at Manticore. But Max wasn't sure she'd make it if she ever lost Logan.


	2. Chapter 2

The warehouse lay in a part of town that had been hit especially hard by the Pulse. Ten years of financial ruin on top of already-intense poverty meant nobody legal had lived there for years. The place was a breeding ground for those eager to take advantage of the large, empty quarters for their own off-the-books empires. Just the sort of place that would draw Eyes Only's attention.

Sketchy would never deliver here, Max thought, and smiled. The smile didn't last long, though. Lemkin probably had Logan in one of these so-called buildings and he wouldn't waste any time getting what he wanted.

That meant Max couldn't waste any time either.

She cut the engine a few buildings away. Stowing her baby behind a dumpster, she crept toward the warehouse and peeked through the broken corner of a filthy window pane. Crowded in the far corner were several people, arguing about something. Normally it would have been easy for her to pick up on their conversation, but normally she didn't have two burly uniformed guards suddenly in her face, blocking her view. She felt more guards grab her from behind and spin her around.

"What are you doing here?" one of them demanded.

"You tell me," she spat back. "Where is he?"

"Yeah, like I'm just gonna tell you anything you want to know. You're leaving." Then the guards made the mistake of yanking on her arm. In an instant she had them lying on the ground, writhing in pain.

"Not until I get what I came for. You can tell me where he is, or I'll find him myself and you can spend the rest of the year limping."

"Cale's not here, for Pete's sake. He's in the other building across town. 46th and Harvey." Max's heart lept into her throat. Across town! Why had she assumed he was in the warehouse? Why hadn't she taken time to check some more files?

The last guard fell into unconsciousness. Max ran back to her Ninja, revved her up, and took off in a cloud of dust and grime. _Logan, hang on...Don't let Lemkin do anything to you before I get there...God, please..._

A Mazda convertible suddenly swung out from behind the warehouse and swerved in front of her, forcing her to slam on her brakes, which screeched in protest. Pissed off and panicky, she let out a curse word before realizing whom she had seen at the wheel. It was the man who had escorted her out of Lemkin's place a while ago while she had been doing reconnaissance.

"Pee outside," Lemkin had told her, and then she had gotten a faceful of the same mug she had seen just now. 

Max laid on the gas and followed him. _He could lead me straight to Lemkin! Any quicker I can get to Logan, the better._ Suddenly it occurred to her that this guy might know why Eyes Only was being held, and what Lemkin had in mind for him. She would have a bigger advantage if she went in prepared.

This guy was gonna help her do it...whether he knew it or not.

Max increased her speed, wind flying through her hair, until she was in the convertible's blind spot. With one great burst of speed she passed the car and turned directly in front of it. The driver slammed on the brakes and yanked the wheel to avoid her, causing the car to screech and lean on two wheels as it rotated. Max was off the bike and at the car before its other two wheels finally slammed to the ground. It only took her seconds to pull the driver halfway out the window by the collar of his shirt.

"You're gonna take me to your boss and tell me why he's holding Eyes Only. And you're gonna do it _now_," she hissed through clenched teeth.

"Eyes Only? What are you talking about?" he sputtered, trying in vain to free himself from her grasp. "What does Eyes Only have to do with my boss?"

"You tell me." A twist of the wrist and he was struggling to breathe. "What's Lemkin doing?"

"Making license plates and making sure he doesn't drop the soap, for all I know."

"What?"

"I don't keep tabs on him in while he's in prison. What, you think he paid me enough to care? I'd be driving my own damn convertible if he did. Boss gets busted for running false IDs at the sector checkpoints and I'm reduced to jacking cars for cash. He can kiss my ass if it's loyalty he wants."

Max had heard enough. "Get out of the car."

He didn't even have time to argue before she was pulling him the rest of the way out the window and tossing him on his butt in the street. All he could do was sit there in slack-jawed disbelief as the car retreated.


	3. Chapter 3

_So the goon's out of the loop and Lemkin's behind bars. Serves him right. Now I just gotta get to whoever's holding Logan across town. Probably some new flunky this guy didn't even know about whose strings Lemkin's pulling from prison. What's Lemkin's beef, anyway? Eyes Only hasn't exposed him yet. At least not as far as I know._

The disturbing thought that Lemkin knew something about Eyes Only that Max didn't was interrupted by the sound of a car phone ringing beside her. She hit the speakerphone button but didn't say a word. It was best to let whoever was calling think she was the goon and start talking. The caller might give her some information she could use.

"Hey. I'm staying later. Go ahead and lock up the warehouse, and I'll see you in the morning." The click came and the call ended before Max's dumbfounded brain even formed the thought.

_Logan!_

That was his voice. Apparently he was fine. Max's immense relief was soon followed by confusion. How was that possible? Logan contacting Lemkin's goon, and sounding friendly? _Wait a minute._ The goon's words bounced in Max's head--"I'm reduced to jacking cars for cash"--and she realized Logan hadn't been calling the goon. He had been calling the owner of the car. Max pulled to a stop and checked the registration in the glove box.

Marianne Cale.

Max had to sit by the side of the road and swallow the enormity of what had just happened. What were the chances Max would just happen to see Lemkin's former right-hand man steal what just happened to be Marianne's car from a warehouse Max had just happened to be checking out at the time? Apparently those chances were better than she would have thought. Why was Marianne's car at the warehouse? She must have been inside.

_Well, if Logan's fine...thank God...then maybe Marianne can tell me where the hell he is._

After a quick U-turn, Max headed back the way she came.

*******************************

As she approached the warehouse, Max could see Marianne pacing around outside, cell phone to her ear and visibly angry. When she spotted the car, though, Marianne's face flooded with relief. She spoke a few quick words into the phone and hung up as Max pulled up next to her.

_She must've seen the goon take the car,_ Max thought as she opened the door, _or else she'd be accusing me of taking it._

"Max Guevara! Right?" Marianne exclaimed when Max was out of the car. Max nodded and Logan's new cousin went on. "Maybe you don't remember me. I'm Marianne. We met at Bennett's and my wedding."

"Of course I remember you. You were the bride," Max replied, surprised that Marianne remembered _her._ There had been a million people at the wedding and they had spoken to each other for all of five minutes. "I'm impressed you know who I am. Pretty good to recognize almost a total stranger months later."

"Well, Logan said you'd show up eventually," Marianne grinned. "I just didn't expect you to do it in my car! Thank God you got it back. That jerkwad took off with it just as I was getting outside. How did you do it?"

Max had to smile at the way Marianne was stroking the car, checking for damage and looking rather affectionate. Reminded her of the way she treated her own baby. "Just dumb luck, I guess."

"Well, however you did it..." Marianne said gratefully, looking straight at Max, "...thank you."

Max smiled. "You're welcome."

"Is there anything I can do for you? I want to repay you somehow."

From any other member of Logan's snobby family, that might've been a condescending offer to a social inferior. From Marianne, however, somehow it felt sincere. "Yeah...I guess there is. You could tell me where Logan's been hiding himself lately. He left you a message on your car phone and it was the first time I've heard his voice all week."

"You're kidding. He managed to stay away from you all this time?" Marianne grinned, and Max started to recognize the look on her face as one she had seen quite often Original Cindy's. This one didn't have the smirk, though, and for that she was glad. "He must've realized that's the only way he could keep from giving away the secret."

"There's a secret?"

"Not anymore. Logan said you'd find out eventually, and here you are."

The look of frustration must have been showing on Max's face, because the next thing she knew, Marianne was gesturing her inside.

******************************

A rec center. They were planning a rec center.

"For sector two," Marianne said. "Full of decent kids, but broke. There's not too much for poor kids to do in that area, and what was there two years ago burned down. They need someplace to go, hang out, be normal kids."

Max knew that feeling.

"I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but never had the money to do anything about it. As soon as we were married Bennett offered to help me put this plan in motion."

Marianne excitedly pointed at some drawings on a table in the corner Max had peered at earlier. If the guards hadn't gotten in her face so quickly, she probably would have seen Marianne among the little crowd. Figures it wouldn't have been that easy.

Those same guards were courteous to her now, albeit a little wary. Marianne had told her that she and her peeps had hired the guards to keep them safe while they made their plans from the warehouse. Max understood that part now. But how was Logan involved?

Marianne took one glance at Max's face and grinned knowingly. Was she that transparent? "We asked Logan to help out with the computer networking and the press releases...when we're ready for them. Nobody's supposed to know about this just yet. We figured it'd be better if we could present it to the community all at once. Like a giant Christmas present."

"In June."

Marianne nodded. "I'm sorry to leave you in the dark like this. Bennett and I swore Logan to secrecy." She put a hand on Max's arm and somehow Max knew she meant every word she said. "He knows you too well, though. He tried to tell us you'd find out. Says you go after what you want. Is he right?"

_Well, I guess I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't._ "Yeah...I guess he is." Suddenly she grew uncomfortable under the knowing gaze with which Marianne regarded her. "Look, do you know where he is right now?"

"Probably over at the rec center. He's been spending a lot of time there. Now that the building is finished and the grand opening is coming up, we spend more time there than we do here. Bennett's leaving there right now, in fact. Look, Max..."

Max, who had already turned for the door, spun on her heel to look back at Marianne. She was rolling up the drawings and pulling out some keys, presumably to lock up the warehouse. "Can I trust you not to tell anyone about this?"

Once again, Max couldn't help but smile. "I don't tell secrets."


	4. Chapter 4

Max retrieved her baby and headed across town. It wasn't every day she started out fearing for Logan's safety and ended up going to talk to him later when everything was fine.

It did happen a lot, now that she thought about it. But not every day.

So Bennett was the Cale the guard had referred to. Max never would have expected him and Marianne to spend their time slumming in an old building in a rotten part of town. Good to know Logan wasn't the only non-snob in the family. Maybe there was hope for them yet.

When she got to 46th and Harvey, she sucked in her breath. Perched on the corner was a _beautiful_ building. New brick and shiny windows gleamed in the afternoon sun. The landscaped grounds along its vast expanse made the building stand out among the smaller, more broken-down apartment buildings in the area.

_They really did a good job,_ thought Max. _How they intended to keep it a secret is beyond me._

She parked the Ninja behind a neatly trimmed bush and walked inside. Logan had to be around here somewhere; she had seen his Aztek parked in the lot. It took her a few minutes to wander through the building. She kept peeking in doors at the rooms full of couches, classrooms, televisions, children's toys, pool tables, and computers. At first she thought she might find Logan working away at the computers, as he did all the time at home, but he wasn't in the lab. When she spotted a door in the hall marked "Gymnasium," she figured she might find him inside, shooting hoops. But the gym was empty and echoed with her footsteps as she walked around it.

It must have been nice to think of a gym as a fun place. Her memories were all of training and discipline. Sports had barely even been mentioned at Manticore. Then again, the same went for pool, foosball, and beer, all three of which she now enjoyed. Maybe sometime she would come make some new, better memories in this gym.

Next to the door of the gym in the hallway was a set of double doors, and through them Max could smell chlorine. If she thought the gym had brought back bad memories, she was wrong. The smell of a pool socked her every time. Too many forced speed laps. Too many diving exercises. But most of all, too many hours chained underwater, struggling to hold her breath. Max had rarely stepped foot in a pool since the escape. The Pulse and the resulting lack of available pool facilities had made avoiding them that much easier.

But she couldn't avoid this one. It was the last place in the building she had yet to look.

With a deep breath she pushed through the double doors, entered the locker room, and crept past the showers. She shook her head to clear away the flashbacks and opened the door to the pool.

The sound of one person splashing filled the giant room and bounced from every corner. An empty wheelchair sat perched at the edge of the pool. And this time Max wasn't wincing at the sight of bright blue water.

Her attention was focused on the man _in_ the bright blue water.

Logan was swimming laps, completely oblivious to her presence. She wasn't sure whether that was due more to her silent entrance or to his splashing, but it didn't matter. She was content just to watch him. Every time an arm surfaced and rotated over his head, she admired the strength with which it plowed through the water. Every time his shoulders rotated and took turns surfacing, she admired the power they held. Through the waves of foam created by each splash, she could see the water slide off his skin. The rippling of muscle and water alike was driving her mad.

After a few minutes he paused in his laps to catch his breath, surfacing and swimming to the side of the pool. With a glance upwards he spotted her standing at the door, eyes still on him. "Hey, Max," he grinned, and waved her over.

When she could find her tongue again she said, "Marianne said I'd find you here," and stepped towards him.

"I knew you'd find out everything eventually. It was only a matter of time before she found out I was right."

She reached the side of the pool and crouched down to talk to him. He looked wonderful, wet and breathing hard and grinning at her. _God, yes, he's right. Everything about him is right._ She couldn't help grinning back. "One thing I don't get. I saw the files you left open. Why did you name them Pierpont?"

"Marianne's mother's maiden name. She's naming the place after her mom, 'cause she was pretty active in this area."

Logan took a minute to duck his head underwater. The sight of him shaking the water off his wet face took Max's breath away. She had to fight to form a coherent thought. "So this is why you've been avoiding me the last few days."

"This is why I've been busy the last few days," he corrected. "I would never avoid you."

_Ohhhh...God, even though I know he doesn't mean it that way, it still sounds good._ But his eyes weren't leaving hers and suddenly she wasn't so sure how he meant it. Would just a friend look at her like that?

"Can't say I expected to find you here," she said, avoiding the question.

"I don't know why not. This is where I've been spending most of my time the last couple weeks." He glanced around and nodded at the water. "This is one place I actually feel halfway normal."

"You're anything but normal," she said with her eyes riveted on his chest. His eyes snapped back to hers and she wondered if he could see her blushing. Just a friend wouldn't say that. At least not while slobbering.

Logan didn't seem to mind, though. "Neither are you." Those wonderful eyes of his seemed to drift to her lips and she could feel them tingle under his gaze. Without even realizing it she lowered her head to be closer to his, and their eyes met. Just friends wouldn't be doing this. But he wasn't stopping, and neither was she. Her eyes closed and she could feel his breath warm her face as he approached. And then his lips were on hers.

That's where they were meant to be.

The kiss was wonderful, soft, and firm enough to let her know he wanted it. This wasn't just a product of the moment. It had been a long time coming. It took a while ending, too.

When it was over, he looked up at her and smiled. "Join me."

Max shook her head. "I don't do pools."

"You're missing out," he said, and went back to his laps. Max watched Logan swim and realized she had been missing out all this time. He _did_ mean it that way. He _had been_ meaning it that way. And she hadn't seen it.

All this time, she hadn't seen it.

Suddenly the desire to be with him was so great that she couldn't stand to be up on the deck while Logan was in the water. Manticore be damned; she was getting in that pool. Her leather jacket dropped to the floor as Max dove into the water, swimming hard to catch up with him. As he made the turn for his next lap he saw her next to him, and they both smiled.

It wasn't long before they were finally side-by-side, moving in perfect harmony, ready for whatever came next.

~ FIN ~


End file.
